Jack Ma speaks fluent English, Mark speaks 國語. I think it is all about business & $.
Jack Ma was also an english teacher
Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
161–170 of 188 posts
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hmm dude, everybody here who is not a native English speaker knows at least a second language on top of his mother tongue. I'm French, fluent in English and conversational in Spanish and German and I don't think it's so impressive. Chinese on the other hand is a bit tougher because the writing is so different.
3 languages for a french person? I'd say that's unbelievable.
This is such a ridiculous comment...
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
He is probably the first CEO of a American $200 billion dollar company to do so though -- and in public.
I guess my point is that I don't think that's particularly relevant. The story is "man does something incredibly difficult whilst dealing with big work pressures". I doubt that Marks life pressures are greater than lots of "normal" people who learn languages everyday, and learning spoken Chinese to his level isn't actually that hard. he also has the benefits of practically unlimited resources to spend on learning.
Agreed, private lessons on a daily basis can help you improve very quickly in my experience, you don't even need to do much self study outside that.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#164Regardless of his technical achievements, learning a second language ( and such disconnected one ) is super impressive. Great job.
No it's not.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#165A review of his Mandarin based on a close listen of the first 5 minutes of the video and listening to the rest in the background while I type this (let me know if it changes later): tl;dr - Definitely ILR 1+, probably an ILR 2. Pronunciation needs a ton of work, but that's not the only aspect that is measured when analyzing speech. The foreign policy article (linked in another comment) is overly critical, imho. Detai…
It may be good to explain what ILR 1,2,3 mean especially as you make reference to them so many times and is basically a fulcrum for your argument.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whats App was a huge mistake though. That data is not worth Billions.
To summarize Marc Andreesen: When I heard about the Whats App deal, I thought, wow it's worth that much. That must be what it's worth. Should I believe someone on the internet, or Mark Zuckerberg, who had painstakingly researched it, has access to the real financials and bet his own money and the future of his company on it.
Implying that business leaders don't make billion dollar mistakes.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#167I was expecting something very impressive when I started the video, annnnnnd... nope. The interviewer speaks to him like he's a little boy (I know, this is the same pace my Chinese teacher was using in my classroom for the first 2-3 months).
And I agree with a lot of comments here: a foreigner speaking fluent English seems normal, yet an American babbling in Chinese seems outstanding...
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#168Gonna be a bit of a douche, but... Why do we go googoogaga over an English speaker learning a foreign language to a competent level, when this is something millions of people do regularly? Mark isn't the first person to learn a language in the middle of a busy job and life schedule. Doucheness not quite over - it's a big achievement, yeah, but Chinese isn't actually that hard, it's a bit of a myth perpetuated because…
You won't find a finer example of white privilege. No one cares if a Chinese CEO (or anyone for that matter) speaks English, no matter the difficulty and effort the learning entails. Contrast this indifference with the flattery of the converse in this thread, and it's quite illuminating of the world we live in.
> You won't find a finer example of white privilege.
I don't buy it. The story is prominent person does something you don't expect, not prominent white person does something you don't expect.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#169Gonna be a bit of a douche, but... Why do we go googoogaga over an English speaker learning a foreign language to a competent level, when this is something millions of people do regularly? Mark isn't the first person to learn a language in the middle of a busy job and life schedule. Doucheness not quite over - it's a big achievement, yeah, but Chinese isn't actually that hard, it's a bit of a myth perpetuated because…
You won't find a finer example of white privilege. No one cares if a Chinese CEO (or anyone for that matter) speaks English, no matter the difficulty and effort the learning entails. Contrast this indifference with the flattery of the converse in this thread, and it's quite illuminating of the world we live in.
white privilege? don't you mean anglocentricism? the bias would be equally present if Mark was African-American or Asian-American.
Re: Mark Zuckerberg Answers Q&A in Mandarin at Chinese University
#170Would someone please translate the jokes?
No jokes. People just appreciated his Chinese speech.